Who’s Doing Good?

23 July 2018 - 29 July 2018

THE GIVERS

SK chief donates US$10 million to help Laos disaster recovery. Chairman of SK Group, Chey Tae-won, made the donation pledge in a meeting with the Laotian ambassador in Seoul, offering his condolences to victims of the flooding from the dam construction site. With two Korean companies being involved in the construction project, both companies and the Korean government have offered to provide aid in cash and in physical materials.

THE THINKERS

“Help nonprofits to build long-term capacity,” says Shahira Ahmed Bazari.Writing in the New Straits Times, Bazari, managing director of Yayasan Hasanah, a Malaysian foundation, urges for a change in the way that nonprofits are perceived: to recognize that they are professional organizations that require the same kinds of financial resources and support as other organizations. “If nonprofits do not have to worry about covering basic costs and salaries regularly, they can place more focus and resources on driving real change and delivering a social impact,” she writes.

The Straits Times answers questions about crowdfunding in Singapore.Instead of viewing it as a threat, it argues that crowdfunding should be viewed as an opportunity. On the island city-state, crowdfunding is regulated by the Commissioner of Charities in conjunction with the sector’s major players: crowdfunding sites bear responsibility for assessing the legitimacy of funding appeals while taking in a near-negligible fee for their services. Thanks to its lower cost, as well as potential to help organizations reach new audiences, crowdfunding could become an invaluable tool for small charities.

Responding to the Rohingya crisis, foreign donations to Bangladesh rise nearly 16%. Over US$820 million in funds are expected to go to the 1,625 projects approved by the NGO Affairs Bureau, the highest number approved by the bureau in a single year. This comes as donations to NGOs have waned in recent years, as the government has taken punitive measures against some for regulatory non-compliance. Another US$50 million is expected to be committed by donors in the coming year.

Foodbank Vietnam helps distribute food to those in need. Foodbank Vietnam, a government-sponsored Vietnam Red Cross charity, debuted earlier this year with a pledge to reduce poverty, raise social awareness about saving food, and boost connections and coordination between food suppliers and resource centers. “More than 5,000 meals are provided each month to 10 places sheltering the homeless, many of them children. We have gradually collected the food from five suppliers in Ho Chi Minh City,” said the founder Nguyễn Tuấn Khởi.

THE BUSINESSES

PepsiCo donates US$1 million to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.Along with the financial donation, the multinational corporation is also donating its new Quaker Kids Nutrition products to assist with hunger alleviation efforts in Southwest China. Many counties in the targeted provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou are among the poorest in the country. The grant will provide over 1.7 million meals benefiting approximately 10,000 students over the next three years.

THE INNOVATORS

The Korea Herald interviews the president of Hanyang University, where social innovation is “in their DNA.” At Hanyang, students are required to complete 32 hours of community service in order to graduate. The university is the first in East Asia to be designated an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus. “Trying to find ways to help others and contribute to the society, that is the mindset we seek to deliver to our students,” says Lee Young-moo, the university’s president. Going forward, it hopes to publish a Korean version of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the preeminent publication on social innovation from the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.

Social services sector aims to strengthen service delivery with two new digital initiatives. The IT system to improve backend processes, iShine Cloud provides a suite of integrated IT cloud services specific to the charitable sector. The system is jointly developed by the National Council of Social Service and Singapore Pools. The system will consist of tools that will help social service professionals attend to their clients without being stalled by administrative tasks. The second is a social service navigator, an interactive online platform and mobile portal that consolidates information on social service providers, programs, and resources all over Singapore. The platform aims to significantly reduce the time social service professionals spend searching for a suitable program to better address the needs of their clients.

THE VOLUNTEERS

Children take on a bike tour of Taiwan to help the elderly. Fifteen children participating in the “2018 Love and Hope in Taiwan – Bicyclists Charity” event have set out on a bicycle challenge in Taichung, including stops in Kaohsiung and New Taipei, to help and support the elderly in those communities. The children come from disadvantaged families. They will perform dances and give the elderly massages on the way.

THE TRUSTBREAKERS

Charity founder confesses to sexual assault in WeChat post. Lei Chuang, the founder of the Yi You Charity and a high-profile philanthropic figure in China, has admitted to sexually assaulting a woman. Lei, a respected personality in China’s charity circle, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2015 in an anonymous article posted online.

Who’s Doing Good?

9 July 2018 - 15 July 2018

THE GIVERS

The late HNA chairman’s stake in the conglomerate is to go to a China-based charity. Wang Jian, who has a 14.98% stake in HNA, died in an accidental fall while traveling in France earlier in the month. The China-based charity, Hainan Province Cihang Charity Foundation, already controls 22.75% of the conglomerate. The charity and another New York-based foundation already jointly hold a majority stake in the conglomerate. Shareholders had allegedly previously promised to pass their stakes to the charity fund in the event of their exit from the company or death.

Livemint interviews Rakesh Mittal, who recently pledged INR 7000 crore (over USD $1 billion) to education. The Bharti Mittal Family pledged the sum towards the creation of Satya Bharti University, a new higher education institution with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and artificial and virtual reality. “This is the DNA of my family,” he says, referring to his family’s philanthropic tradition. “When we started out our businesses, even when we were small, we were doing a few small things or initiating or institutionalizing scholarships and higher education for engineering and management students. I personally believe that giving back to society is an obligation.”

Top Korean financier says his dream is “to become Korea’s largest donator, not the country’s richest man.” Mirae Asset Daewoo, Korea’s top securities firm, and its chairman, Park Hyeon-Joo, are providing thousands of scholarships to nurture young talented individuals. The company said the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon-Joo Foundation has supported about 230,000 students as of April 2018 since the foundation’s establishment in March 2000. Of these, the company stated that it particularly focuses on supporting study abroad programs. A company official said, “To help more Korean university students have different kinds of cultural experiences, we have been providing scholarships to 500 students every year. The number of students will be expanded to 600 in the second semester of this year.” Alongside his foundation’s charitable work, Park is known for donating his dividends every year.

Hong Kong mourns the death of great educator Tin Ka Ping. From humble beginnings on the mainland, businessman became a philanthropist who donated billions of dollars in support of education, culture and social welfare. Despite his great successes as an awardee of the MBE in 1996 by Queen Elizabeth and a Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2010, by the Hong Kong government, he was a modest man and lived a simple life. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Tin and his businesses suffered a massive blow making it difficult for his foundation to complete some of the donations. In 2001, Tin made the incredible decision to sell his for HK$56 million (US$ 7.13 million). He donated all the proceeds to more than 20 secondary schools.

THE THINKERS

Singaporean businesses “fail to give back to society,” says the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). The centre found that 31% of Singaporean companies are “keen to start” giving, but have yet to do so. Many are holding back out of concern about the staff and resource availability, as well as time limitations. Companies that have been successful in giving back were those that adopted a “purpose for-profit model,” using volunteer activities for purposes such as staff development and skill cultivation. Going forward, NVPC director Jeffrey Tan says that cultural change needs to start at the top: “Many of these barriers identified, and the low utilisation of paid volunteer leave, suggest a need for leaders to drive shifts in perception and organisational cultures.”

THE NONPROFITS

Five nonprofit websites that will inspire you. According to the author, “the most effective nonprofit websites provide mobile-friendly accessibility, streamlined donation pages, straightforward navigation and a growth-driven design that allows for continuous testing and improvement—all while showcasing the organization in a captivating way.” The author selected notable websites of five nonprofit organizations such as Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley, Greenpeace, Movember Foundation, World Bicycle Relief, and Sharing America’s Marrow, elaborating on the specific reasons for their effectiveness and uniqueness.

THE BUSINESS

Traveloka harnesses its customers for charitable giving. In preparation for Meraka Day and Malaysia Day, the travel booking site will donate 1 yuan from every booking to Tabung Harapan Malaysia, the national debt-relief fund set up by the Malaysian government in June of this year. To date, the fund has collected 144.6 million yuan (USD $36 million). “We are sure that many Malaysians wish to show their love for the country, which was why we set up the campaign,” Traveloka’s country manager Halif Hamzah said. Titled “Share Your Love for Malaysia,” the campaign will run until the end of September.

THE INNOVATORS

A debut development-impact bond performs beyond expectations. UBS Group’s Optimus Foundation launched the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond in 2015 to fund a program in rural India to improve educational opportunities for girls. The program outperformed expectations, generating a 15% rate of return for the foundation. The bonds are one example of innovative ways that foundations are raising money for charitable causes. Over 108 social-impact bonds have raised $392 million since 2010. “When people make philanthropic investments, especially international ones, there’s a lot of risk with that, but in a development-impact bond the investor is the one taking the risk,” says Phyllis Costanza, CEO of the UBS Optimus Foundation. “This could potentially be a really powerful financing tool.”

THE VOLUNTEERS

Thailand honors foreign volunteers in cave rescue. The Thai government has honoured over 100 foreign volunteers who took part in the dramatic rescue mission to free 13 Mu Pa Academy football club members from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai. The Royal Household Bureau, Foreign Affairs Ministry, and Tourism Authority of Thailand will also host sightseeing trips in Chiang Rai and Bangkok for those who wished to stay in Thailand after their volunteer work. For those returning back home, Thai authorities will sponsor a single trip back to Thailand within the next five years.

THE TRUSTBREAKERS

Maharashtra state charity commission asks NGOs, trusts to remove ‘human rights’ or ‘corruption’ from their registered names. Around 400 non-profits and trusts established with the words ‘human rights’ or ‘corruption’ in their names and are risking suspension under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act 1950. The charity commissioner states that the government has the machinery to eradicate corruption and protect human right and that many organizations were misusing the words and deceiving people. Several NGOs have objected to the State’s move, arguing that the Charity Commissioner’s office should have raised objections while registering their organizations. Many propose to challenge the order in court.

Who’s Doing Good?

18 June 2018 - 24 June 2018

THE GIVERS

Malaysia finance minister defends collecting public donations to help settle national debt. Amidst a public movement among companies and individuals to donate to the state, Minister Lim Guan Eng has defended this collection of public donations through the “Fund of Hope,” which he said will go towards settling the nation’s debt. The fund was created after Malaysians started crowdsourcing donations themselves. As of June 21, 2018, the fund had reached more than RM90 million in contributions.

THE THINKERS

Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society presents the Doing Good Index in Singapore. CAPS visited Singapore to present the Doing Good Index to nonprofit and foundation professionals, CSR executives, academics, journalists, and philanthropists in the country. In particular, CAPS highlighted the challenge in recruiting high-quality talent into the sector. 94% of organizations surveyed agreed that there was a public perception that nonprofit employees should earn less than their private sector counterparts, while 84% indicated that they had difficulty recruiting skilled staff. The below cartoon by the India Development Review well represents this talent dilemma and challenge faced by many nonprofits.

Source: India Development Review

The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network hosted its annual conference in Singapore. Investors seem to agree that there remains a persistent early-stage capital gap problem, leading to insufficient support for early-stage social enterprises. Other challenges include a need for more expertise on business building, more persistence on developing standardized impact measurements, and a reframing of sector’s approach to gender equality.

Hong Kong is underestimating its altruism, according to a recent poll by The University of Hong Kong. While scoring just above average in The University of Hong Kong’s altruism poll, the study nonetheless found that 83.5% of respondents had donated money to charity, while nearly half said that they did volunteer work. Paul Yip Siu-far, the poll’s research director, says that while Hongkongers are doing more than they think, there is still room to do more: “The government should do more to encourage people to donate blood, such as extending the hours of blood donation services since most people work from nine to six.”

THE NONPROFITS

Nonprofit brings aid and hope to Penan settlements. Hope Place, a Malaysian nonprofit, has been providing the Penan community in Ulu Baram with health checks, haircuts, and solar panels. After conducting a survey to identify the needs of the people, Hope Place realized that the villagers needed more than just food supplies. Hence, Hope Place has gathered a team of volunteers to provide services such as health checks, haircuts, and installing solar panels.

THE BUSINESSES

Vietnamese companies begin to embrace the environment and community. The article aptly summarizes an increasing trend among Vietnamese companies to embrace environmental protection and community contributions. For example, Traphaco, a leading Vietnamese pharmaceutical company, devised a sustainable development strategy to attach its business growth to environmental protection and CSR. A notable project by Traphaco includes the “Green Plan” whose goal is to produce materials made from herbs, as well as helping local farmers eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. With this emphasis on sustainable business practices, Traphaco is now spending approximately 1-3% of its total revenue on CSR. The article cites many other noteworthy examples from the private sector.

THE INNOVATORS

“From Malaysia to Myanmar, social ventures build homes and safe spaces.” Touching upon the rise of social enterprises in Asia, the Thomson Reuters Foundation highlights two social ventures in Malaysia and Myanmar. While Epic Homes builds houses for mainland Malaysia’s indigenous Orang Asli people, Myanmar’s Doh Eain is helping residents conserve older homes, as well as open up public spaces for women and girls.

A new startup is bringing financial inclusion to unbanked Filipinos. TraXion, a Filipino blockchain enterprise, is aiming to provide savings accounts and payment and remittance services to the 82.6% of the country’s population that is currently unbanked or underbanked. By providing a low-cost and user-friendly service to its clients, the platform wants to succeed where traditional financial institutions have thus far failed. TraXion’s public initial coin offering will begin running this August.

Social delivery organizations in Singapore need to build up public trust. Presenting the DGI to the Singaporean audience, CAPS spoke of the “trust deficit” that plagues the nonprofit sector. 94% of organizations surveyed in the DGI indicated that there was a public perception that nonprofit employees should earn less, while 60% also felt that the level of individual giving was low. “People don’t want to give because they don’t trust the organizations to use their money,” said Ruth Shapiro, Chief Executive of CAPS.

Who’s Doing Good?

11 June 2018 - 17 June 2018

THE GIVERS

Realizing sustainable quality education, Harvard style.The Straits Times profiled Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah, the Malaysian construction magnate who donated all of his equity in Sunway Education Group, valued at more than RM1 billion (approximately US$250.1 million), to a foundation dedicated to realizing sustainable quality education. This structure models that of universities in the West, mirroring in particular John Harvard’s contribution to Harvard University over 400 years ago. “It is my personal goal to award more than RM1 billion in my lifetime in scholarships,” says Cheah. As of 2017, his foundation is already one third of the way there, having given out RM330 million in scholarships and grants.

“Switching the donor-grantee relationship.” In this article, Ashok Alexander reflects on the problematic “heads and legs” relationship between donors and grantees. Unlike in the business sector, where entrepreneurs conceive up ideas and then approach investors for funding, Alexander notes that in the social social sector, it is the funders who come up with ideas and then look for recipients to carry out the legwork. “Donors should reject donees who don’t have new ideas; donees must be willing to walk away from donors who tell them exactly what they should do.”

THE NONPROFITS

Poverty alleviation charity project aids 120,000 children. A project by the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation has raised nearly 21 million yuan (US$3.3 million) in donations and aided 120,000 children since 2014. The donations have been used to provide stationery, clothes, and fine arts equipment for more than 32,000 children and to build 146 kitchens in schools, providing better meals for 60,000 students. The project also employed “companion mothers” to care for more than 30,000 rural children whose parents migrated to larger cities for employment opportunities.

THE BUSINESSES

Garuda Indonesia launches “umrah” donation program. Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s national flag carrier, has launched a donation program that allows its GarudaMiles members to contribute miles toward an “umrah” pilgrimage trip for underprivileged people. Garuda Indonesia is currently aiming for this program to benefit 100 individuals.

THE INNOVATORS

Li Ka-shing joins Bill Gates to fund probiotic product to fight child malnutrition. Along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Horizons Ventures, the investment arm of Li Ka-shing’s philanthropic foundation, led a US$40 million round of funding for California-based Evolve BioSystems, which is developing an infant probiotic product that helps restore the beneficial bacteria in infants’ guts. As the funding has been widely hailed as a notable impact investment, lead investor Patrick Zhang said, “We are excited to increase our investment in Evolve, and for the tremendous societal impact that Evolve can make on restoring the infant gut microbiome, particularly in Asia.”

THE VOLUNTEERS

Singapore Children’s Society recognizes outstanding volunteers. On June 12, 2018, the Singapore Children’s Society recognized 47 volunteers and donors for their longtime service and dedication to the organization. Most notably, Kurt Wee, who received the Ruth Wong Award for volunteers, was lauded for volunteering to help raise over SG$106.8 million (approximately US$79 million) for the Singapore Children’s Society since 2008.

THE TRUSTBREAKERS

Amnesty International exposes questionable payments by Kirin Brewery to the Myanmar military. The human rights-focused organization published correspondences between Kirin’s Myanmar offshoot, Myanmar Brewery, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Amnesty International has urged the Japanese government to investigate the “immoral payments,” which come at a time when Myanmar’s military has been undertaking an unprecedented ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya population in the Rakhine state. In the interim, Kirin has banned all new charitable donations in Myanmar, while it conducts a human rights assessment of its suppliers and partners in the country.

Dr. Ruth Shapiro: Is Asia Philanthropic?

Hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in association with Asia Society Northern California

As enormous wealth continues to be created in Asia, the region’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals are turning their hand to philanthropy. But their path continues to manifest quite differently from the United States and Western Europe. Drawing upon exclusive interviews with ultra-high-net-worth individuals and case studies of successful social initiatives, this talk will examine why and how Asia’s traditional and newer philanthropists are giving.

Dr. Shapiro is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society, a nonprofit incorporated in Hong Kong in 2013. In addition to Pragmatic Philanthropy, Dr. Shapiro edited The Real Problem Solvers, a book about social entrepreneurship in America. She is a regular speaker on issues related to Asian philanthropy, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship in Asia. Dr. Shapiro holds a doctorate from Stanford University and master’s degrees from Harvard University and The George Washington University.

How Can Asia Boost Philanthropy?

AsiaGlobal Online

Wealth in Asia is growing rapidly, but philanthropy has not kept pace. Governments should improve regulation and change tax and fiscal policies to make it easier for Asians and corporations to give in a systematic way. They should also ensure donations can efficiently reach organizations working to meet society’s needs.

This article looks at how the Doing Good Index can help governments improve regulations and policies relevant to the philanthropic and charitable sectors by identifying the levers that best enhance local philanthropy across 15 Asian economies.

Who’s Doing Good?

28 May 2018 - 3 June 2018

THE GIVERS

Three more Indian billionaires pledge to donate half of their wealth. The Nilekani, Shetty, and Bhusri families have joined the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett that encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals to commit to dedicating the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Now in its eight year, the effort has expanded internationally with the addition of 14 philanthropists in the last year alone, bringing the total number of pledgers to 183 from 22 countries.

THE THINKERS

Gendered differences in impact investing? A new study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis finds differences between men and women in their willingness to learn about, and participate in, impact investing. Overall, while men and women impact invest at similar rates, women are more interested in learning about impact investing, and are more likely to impact invest on top of their existing charitable giving.

“Effective altruism”: the head or the heart? To many, altruism is an appeal to the heart. The question of having their money well spent, however, is a perennial debate that seeming one can only agree to disagree: is making a wish come true for disease-stricken children a less worthy cause to buying bed nets for people in mosquito-infested area? This Economist article on ‘effective altruism’ continues the debate.

THE NONPROFITS

Nonprofits in Hong Kong push ahead temporary dwellings for people rather than profit. Hong Kong’s housing is one of the most unaffordable in the world, to the point that too many dwellers of the city can only afford to live in “cage housing”–small cubicle flats of 1.4 square meter s that cost an average of HK$1,500 (or US$192) per month, making them effectively more expensive than many of the posh apartments of Hong Kong. Nonprofits such as Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) are attempting to address the issue with their social housing scheme in a bid to provide temporary relief to those in need. Under the scheme, residents usually only have to pay rent of about a quarter of their household income, and are able to stay for a few years until they are allocated a public housing flat.

THE BUSINESSES

Enterprise Asia hosts its fourth International Corporate Social Responsibility Summit in Manila. Through its Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA), Enterprise Asia rewards companies for responsible business leadership and outstanding CSR contributions. William Ng, Enterprise Asia’s president predicts that companies’ approaches are evolving and shifting towards a ‘shared value’ model, where companies find opportunities to solve societal problems while obtaining something in return, rather than focusing only on philanthropy: “Every organization on Earth will eventually migrate into the ‘shared value’ model. Everyone, without exception.”

THE INNOVATORS

The Gates Foundation launches a grant to better understanding how education works around the world. For a foundation known for big investments, the grant is comparatively small, at US$68 million. Yet, the fund is uniquely problem-first: it specifically tackles the challenge of comparing educational achievements between countries, with the goal of enabling greater knowledge sharing across borders. India is the grant’s pilot country, thanks to its wealth of local organizations with “enormous capability and expertise.”

Who’s Doing Good?

21 May 2018 - 27 May 2018

THE GIVERS

Singaporean foundation invests SG$12 million (approximately US$8.9 million) to support children from low-income families. Lien Foundation, a philanthropic foundation in Singapore, will be investing SG$12 million and boosting manpower to further expand an early childhood intervention program it pioneered in 2013. In cooperation with Care Corner Singapore, a nonprofit organization, the “Circle of Care” program supports pre-school children from less privileged families and helps parents with their children’s transition from pre-school to primary school. According to the foundation, the program is projected over the next five years to serve at least 1,800 children in at least 30 pre-schools.

THE THINKERS

“The trouble with charitable billionaires.” “More and more wealthy CEOs are pledging to give away parts of their fortunes – often to help fix problems their companies caused. Some call this ‘philanthrocapitalism’, but is it just corporate hypocrisy?” Carl Rhodes and Peter Bloom explore the answer to this curious case in their in-depth opinion editorial.

THE NONPROFITS

Four organizations in Singapore to provide charities with shared services. According to the Commissioner of Charities, four local organizations will provide shared services to help charities comply with regulations. The four organizations are the Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore (CSIS), Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF), iShine Cloud (iShine), and the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). These shared services, which include assistance in electronic regulatory submissions, governance-related matters, talent management, and technology solutions, will particularly focus on helping smaller charities.

THE BUSINESSES

MetLife Foundation partners with Kiva to support entrepreneurs worldwide. MetLife Foundation has partnered with Kiva to support entrepreneurs around the world through an employee engagement campaign. Through this “Take Action” campaign, MetLife’s 23,000 employees in Asia will each receive a US$25 loan to help entrepreneurs start, sustain, and grow their businesses.

THE INNOVATORS

Indonesian ride-hailing company facilitates doing good during Ramadan. Go-Jek launched a #CariPahala program to facilitate its users to share and do something good for each other this Ramadan. For example, Go-Ride will make it easier for users to find the nearest mosque on the mobile application’s main page, while Go-Pay will allow users to donate money to the national alms agency.

THE VOLUNTEERS

More than 2,000 volunteers hit the beach in Hong Kong. On May 27, 2018, more than 2,000 volunteers convened in Hong Kong’s Lamma Island, one of the city’s outlying islands, for a large-scale beach trash clean-up to prevent plastic trash from killing sea turtles and other wildlife.

THE TRUSTBREAKERS

Death of girl in China triggers calls for better crowdfunding supervision. Yang Meiqin, a mother of five in Henan province, used Shuidichou, an online crowdfunding platform in China, to raise funds for her fourth daughter who was diagnosed with eye cancer. She raised more than 35,000 yuan (approximately US$5,474), but the funds were suspected to have been used solely for her son who has a cleft palate. The daughter died from the cancer, triggering calls for increased accountability and oversight in the crowdfunding space. According to the new Charity Law, online fundraising can only be conducted by platforms authorized by civil affairs authorities, but “online fundraising” does not include crowdfunding, which is a channel for individuals to raise money for personal purposes.

Who’s Doing Good?

14 May 2018 - 20 May 2018

THE GIVERS

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ask for donations to charity in lieu of wedding gifts. The couple has asked for donations to a number of charities, instead of traditional presents for those who wish to send a wedding gift to them. 7 charities are chosen to represent a range of issues they are passionate about, including sport for social change, women’s empowerment, conservation, the environment, homelessness, HIV and the Armed Forces.

THE THINKERS

Funders, get out of your own way to achieve greater impact. Funders can be nonprofits and social enterprises’ greatest enemy, according to Open Road Alliance, a philanthropic initiative that provides bailout grants to social impact organizations that encounter mission-crippling obstacles. Its newly released Roadblock Analysis Report, which looks into the 102 applications for support the initiative received over the last five years, reveals that “Funder-Created Obstacles”, such as delay of disbursement, a change in funder strategy, and funder policy inflexibility, made up of half of the roadblocks nonprofits and social enterprises face during project implementation. Other factors, including weather event or market change under the “Act of God/Economics” category, and fraud/theft filed under “Organizational Misfortune”, tied at 27% each.

THE NONPROFITS

NGOs can play a bigger role to protect migrant fishing workers in Thailand. Natthaya Phetcharat, a labor rights activist, said members of legally registered NGOs should be allowed to collaborate with Thai officials to help migrant workers in fishing industry, as they have more confidence in the networks and feel more comfortable talking to NGO advocates than to just the authorities, according to a survey which interviewed 300 migrant workers in the industry.

THE BUSINESSES

Nokia vows to digitize 500 Indian villages in five years’ time. Through its newly launched “Smartpur” project, Nokia vows to bring connectivity and enable digital applications in education, healthcare, governance, and finance to 500 villages and rural communities across the country in 5 years. The initiative aims to bring efficiency in daily lives, transparency in governance, economic prosperity for households and ease of access to various government services and information, the Finnish telecom gear maker said.

Samsung vice-chairman holds on to foundation chairmanship. Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Electronic’s vice-chairman, will serve as chair of Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation for another term, despite speculations of the contrary after criticisms of him using the chairmanship to garner more control of the Korean conglomerate. The board re-appointed him last Friday in the belief that Lee “best understands the vision of the foundation and is the most suitable person to carry out its social contribution activities”.

THE VOLUNTEERS

Kodak expands global literary program with local printers and staffers. More printers across the globe are signing up for Kodak’s Print for Good initiative, which aims to print and donate children’s book titles and school notebooks. Last year, the initiative placed more than 30,000 books and printed materials to thousands of children in Europe, the US, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Kodak staffers are also encouraged to support their own community’s literacy initiatives, including participation in local school reading programs. This year, the imaging company will establish a new partnership with Room to Read, a global nonprofit focusing on literary and girls’ education in low-income countries to roll out a literacy program for an Indian community.

Who’s Doing Good?

7 May 2018 - 13 May 2018

THE GIVERS

China’s “super rich” joins the world in upping their commitment to philanthropic causes. Who’s the most generous in China? According to the latest Hurun USA-China Philanthropy List 2018, which ranks the most generous individuals from the U.S. and China, He Xiangjian, founder of Midea Group, an electrical appliance manufacturer, ranked fifth on the list with a US$1.18bn donation he made last July. Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande, a property developer, made it to the eighth with his donation of US$540m last year. Other renowned philanthropists on the top ten list include Bill Gates, George Soros, and Mark Zuckerberg. 76 in China, and 290 in the U.S donated more than US$5m in the last 12 months till March; education, in the form of scholarship, and healthcare remain the two most preferred cause among philanthropists in the two countries.

Philanthropists and technologists discuss their role in unleashing tech potential for social good. Paula Goldman, vice president of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm, led a panel discussion at the Global Philanthropy Conference on ways to leverage data with sensitivity to tackle the world’s greatest social challenges. The funders and practitioners in attendance contemplated the implications to humanitarian sector in unleashing data, such as satellite imagery, and geolocation data for humanitarian work. Attendees also talked about the risks, tradeoffs, and the norms to be set for ethical data usage. Despite skepticism in Facebook’s data privacy policy as the data breach scandal continues to unfurl, Chaya Nayak, who leads Facebook’s “data for good” initiative, said “the same data that is really powerful in building profit for the company could be equally, if not more, powerful in solving some of the world’s biggest challenges,” with reference to the disaster map work Facebook developed for humanitarian purpose.

THE NONPROFITS

China-NGO relations: ten years on after Wenchuan earthquake. Many sees the 2008 earthquake at Sichuan a watershed towards greater trust between the Chinese government and the nonprofits, but they remain uneasy bedfellows: the government may have realized the prowess and agility of the NGOs in disaster relief, but suspicion of some of these NGOs’ motives remain.

THE BUSINESSES

Ride-hailing with a cause in India. Ola has recently launched a crowdsourcing initiative on its ride-hailing platform to support India’s critical social issues. Riders in India can opt to contribute a sum of one rupee per ride. In partnership with Tata Trusts’ Alamelu Charitable Foundation, the crowdsourced sum will be allotted to strengthen cancer care in India.

THE INNOVATORS

Virtual technologies can transform how nonprofits communicate their message. Virtual technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have huge potential to transform how social messages are delivered. In this article, Susan Bales and Andrew Goldstein share their experience in adoption and utilization of these technologies for social good, as well as the pitfalls to avoid.

THE VOLUNTEERS

Ageing in place: Singapore trains volunteers to assist elderly in the community. The Singaporean government has trained volunteers, young and old, to engage with elderly in their neighborhood during their free time. Healthcare services and active ageing schemes available in Singapore are introduced to these volunteers in their training. As “Silver Generation Ambassadors”, they are expected to help point elderly residents in the community to the relevant support schemes depending on their needs.

THE TRUSTBREAKERS

South Korea regulator steps up its battle in taming the chaebols (article written in Korean).The Fair Trade Commission (FTC), which is the most powerful economic/private sector-regulating body in Korea, officially announced in its meetings with corporate executives of top ten chaebols in Korea that it will investigate into 57 corporate foundations of major conglomerates to identify issues of corporate foundations in aspects of tax and corporate ownership succession planning. FTC is expected to roll out comprehensive regulations in regard to these particular aspects of corporate foundations in the near future.

Child rape charge against Canadian aid worker raises alarm on loopholes in monitoring humanitarian staffers.The recent arrest of a prominent Canadian aid worker on suspected child molestation in Nepal brings to the fore once again the issue of monitoring international humanitarian NGO staffers dispatched to areas in crisis. This issue is only aggregated by limited government oversight common under such circumstances. “The absence of strict regulations means aid groups can be used as a cover for human traffickers and predatory behavior by humanitarian workers,” said Pushkar Karki, the head of Nepal’s Chief Investigation Bureau, the agency overseeing the case.